


You've been hit by, You've been struck by, A phantom pain

by GreenBread



Series: Escapades of Clementine and Violet [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Hospital, Hurt/Comfort, One-Legged Clementine (Walking Dead), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenBread/pseuds/GreenBread
Summary: The one thing Clementine didn't expect after losing her leg was to still feel like it was there, let alone feel pain.
Relationships: Clementine/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: Escapades of Clementine and Violet [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843918
Comments: 1
Kudos: 49





	You've been hit by, You've been struck by, A phantom pain

**Author's Note:**

> Doing research for phantom pain was a bitch and a half. Kept getting Metal Gear Solid V.

The wheels of the wheelchair rolled smoothly as Violet pushed her down the pristine, bright and barren white hallways of the hospital. Blinding light ejecting from the ceiling. Looking down and seeing a stump was quite jarring, especially when it feels like the limb was still there. She could still tense her leg and the ghost of her leg would move. She could feel it and even imagine it in full detail if she closed her eyes. A weird, worrying chill travelled from her chest, making her mouth dry. She wasn't going to get her leg back. 

She was permanently crippled and she hated it. She could feel the heart of her dread and worry bursting against her ribcage like a lion in a zoo. Begging, relentlessly trying to escape. She refused to let it. She was an adult. She could handle it. Her hand crawled up the back of the wheelchair, clutching at the sleeve of Violet's hoodie. She needed something stable. Something that wouldn't leave. 

Her rock was just that. 

Violet smiled warmly and kept pushing her, accepting of her need to seek constant comfort. Clementine could say with full confidence that Violet was the best thing to happen to her. Accepting of all her quirks, flaws and needs like that took strength that she didn't know if she had anymore. She was too busy drowning in her sorrow. 

_Jesus, Clem, pull it together_. She critiqued. _Yeah, you lost a leg but loads of people have lost more than that. At least you have people who care about you._

She sighed, letting her hand slip from Violet's forearm and back to her lap. Useless. She felt useless. Being pushed around even though she knew damn well she could do it herself. She had two working arms. 

"You don't have to push me, y' know?" She eventually says. 

Violet just smiled sincerely, "I know. But I want to." 

"I get that, I just hate feeling like a burden. You have more important stuff to do than wheel me to a vending machine because I'm thirsty." 

"Like what?" Violet raised an eyebrow. 

"Studying for your test for one. Didn't you want to work in forensics?" 

The blonde leaned down and planted a kiss on her hair, "Yeah... But that can wait," Violet reassured with a small flick of her wrist, "I care more about you than that."

"You really shouldn't," She said, sighing, "Vi, I'm not that important."

"To me you are," Violet muttered quietly, "Don't be so self-loathing, it doesn't suit you." 

"Neither does half a leg." 

"My point exactly," Violet responded, the vending machine dawning upon them like the sunset. Splashes of glossy red dolloped the side as if it was horrible graffiti. The glass separating them from the very tiny range of drinks was thin and flimsy, bending when Clementine rested her hand on it. 

She leered at it, "Very fuckin' large options..." 

Violet grinned, "So you can pick between Coke, Coke, Coke and more Coke." 

"Wonderful. I'll have a beer." 

"Diet?" 

"I'm not going to be exercising any time soon- hang on. Are you calling me fat?" 

Silence. 

She gawked like a fish, her voice escaping her throat in a mangled wheeze, "I-I can't believe it. Y-You really think I'm- This has been eye-opening for me. Wow..." 

"No. It's just all they have. Unless you want mango?" 

Clementine cringed. 

"Didn't think so." 

Violet pushed a quarter into the vending machine and tapped a couple keys off to the side. Clementine watched as the old spring inside the machine twisted and twirled, pushing the can of Diet Coke, eventually, it dropped off the edge and rolled out of the flap at the bottom, sitting in a basket. Violet bent over and picked the can up, placing a hand on her hips and pushing all her weight onto one foot, inspecting the drink carefully. She was murmuring the ingredients to herself. 

Clementine may have stared at Violet's ass but she couldn't stop herself. It was right in front of her. She blushed as Violet dropped the can into her open hand. Thankfully, the blonde didn't notice. She breathed a sigh of relief. That would've been awkward. 

* * *

"So, let me get this straight, you fell in love with me because I crashed a car through your school's wall and cracked my head open?" 

"So far you're the only person who has ever managed to wake my lazy ass up and considering you did that accidentally... Well, that put you up there for people I wanted to bang." 

"Violet. I crashed a fucking car through a wall and not one part of you thought 'Hey! This crazy bitch can't drive straight! This might be a bad idea!'" She exaggerated by flailing her arm through the air. 

"Nope," Violet responded, popping the 'P', "Hasn't been a bad idea so far. I've enjoyed it." 

She dodged her gaze to the floor and stared, lost in her mind. How could she? There wasn't much to love. 

"Clem?" 

She snapped out of her trance, "H-huh?" 

"You need to stop doing that." 

"Doing-" She gulped, "Doing what?" 

"That thing you do when you start questioning how I can love you. It's not that hard to understand. You're kind and thoughtful, independent-" 

She snorted, "Not anymore." 

Violet scoffed, "Maybe not, but it won't last for long. You have a will of iron. The Clementine I know wouldn't accept this lying down. She'd get back up and fight for it. Every time." 

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think, then." She responded tightly. 

"Clem-"

"No. You try losing your leg and bounce back from it. I fucking dare you. Go on, prove to me how to do it." 

"Maybe that would be better..." Violet murmured, her hands clenching tighter around the handles. 

Her eyes went wide, "Shit... Vi, I didn't mean that! I just... I just don't know how."

"No... No, you have a point. I should be in that chair." 

"You and me both know damn well that's not what I said. Stop with this whole 'it should have been me' bullshit." 

Violet stayed silent and Clementine sighed. _Really nailed that one, Clem_. a dull throb began to echo around where her ankle used to be. She frowned. That was weird. Violet picked up on it, "What is it?" 

"Nothing. I think." 

"A-Are you sure?" 

"Y-Yeah..." She gritted her teeth. The throbbing had morphed into a painful tensing of the ghosts of her muscles. She dropped the can of Coke. "Fuck! Nevermind, no it's not." 

She hissed in pain and raised her stump, swinging wildly at where her leg should be, desperately trying to dull the pain that she shouldn't even be feeling. There wasn't anything there for Christ's sake so what was it! Violet's eyes widened and she rotated around the wheelchair, picking up her stump and caressing it. The finger's in the blonde's hands went haywire as they massaged around where the muscles were cramping and pulsing like a dull heartbeat. Barely noticeable through the shimmer of sweat on her golden skin.

Clementine winced as her leg shook and she shot her head back, her neck resting on the back of the chair. She grimaced and looked back down, tears brimming in her amber eyes. Her hands pushed against the edge of the wheelchair, holding herself in the air. 

"C-Clem! Calm down!" 

"It fucking hurts! What do you want me to do! Not react!" 

"I'm trying to help!" 

" _By giving me a massage!"_ She shrieked _,_ her voice torn and rough. Foreign, even to her ears. 

"Just trust me, I know what I'm doing." 

"F-Fuck, Vi..." She whimpered. Her voice sounded weak and she didn't like it. 

"I know, I know..." Violet reassured, pressing her fingers through the bandage and into the raw flesh of the brunette's stump. "Phantom pain's a bitch." 

"Phantom pain?" She questioned, hissing once again. "That's what this is?" 

"Yeah." 

"B-But why? There's nothing there. I haven't got this with my finger. I-I'd get the odd twinge but that was about it."

Violet ignored her and continued working her fingers on Clementine's leg. Feeling the flesh slowly stop pulsating and go still as a statue. The muscles relaxing. A content sigh escaped Clementine's mouth and she sunk into the seat, her hair dishevelled. She shook her head, getting it out of her eyes. 

"Thanks," She breathed, "How'd you know to do that?" 

"Like I said earlier," Violet said, brushing a stray strand of Clementine's brown hair behind the girl's ear, "I did some research into it. I was hoping you wouldn't get this. Some don't." 

Yeah, well, my life sucks so I'm not surprised." 

Violet pouted, 'Don't say that..." 

"You want more evidence? Look over there." She pointed to the spilt Coke maiming the floor, "That's my life in a nutshell."

Violet pinched the bridge of her nose, "Do you want another?"

"No..." 

She felt Violet's unimpressed, knowing glare stab through the back of her head. 

"Yes...?" She offered, drawing the simple word out. Violet's hand fell on her shoulder, a quick pat with a small smile on the side. 

"Thought so." 


End file.
